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The Son of War: Ch. 9
The Son of War: Chapter 9: Rhea Rhea stood on the High Rock next to Lupa and her royal advisor Thanax. A dozen silver wolves in golden armor surrounded the two initiates, Tony and Reece. The boys looked nearvous, they were shaking in their shoes. The wind blew through their hair, and their eyes were narrowed because of the cold. Rhea was in wolf form, of course, and she was waiting for the clouds to move like everyone else. The full moon hung high in the sky, shrouded by a veil of clouds. As the clouds began to clear, the ceremony began to start. Wolves began beating the ground with their paws and began chanting in Lupian, the language of the wolves. Thanax lit three torches and made a ring of fire around the boys. A bowl was placed infront of them as well as a knife and a branding iron. "Tony Pierce. Reece Evergreen. Repeat after me," Lupa said. Tony and Reece nodded, and Lupa began. "I vow on the full moon to follow the Creed of the Wolf till the end of times..." "'I vow on the full moon to follow the Creed of the Wolf till the end of times'" The boys repeated. "...To serve the Legion to the best of my ability." "'To serve the Legion to the best of my ability.'" "To take on all task, no matter their rigor." "'To take on all task, no matter their rigor.'" "To stay my weapon from the blood of the innocent..." ""To stay my weapon from the blood of the innocent...'" "To vanquish all evil to the depths of Tarturus..." "'To vanquish all evil to the depths of Tarturus...'" "And to defend this Legion to the last breath..." "'And to defend this Legion to the last breath....'" The Creed ended and the wolves howled. Lupa silenced them and then brought forth the knife. She cut her paw and then cut the boys. Rhea flinched at this. She rememberd her initiation, the Creed, the Pact of Blood, the Drinking of Death, The Branding of the Wolf, and the Howl of the Moon. "We will now make the Pact of Blood..." She extended her paw, and through the fire, they shook hands. Lupa then protruded a bottle of posion from her armor and poured it into the bowl. "You must now Drink Death." "What?" Reece screamed. Rhea gave him a stern look like, You agreed idiot! "You must," Lupa growled. Rhea clenched her fist as she began to sweat. Only the pure and brave of heart survived this, and she wasn't so sure about Reece. Tony drank first, and survived. Then it was Reece's turn. He hesitated at first, staring at the dark black liquid in the bowl. And then he drank. He seemed fine for a few seconds, and then he fell to the ground. He clenched his stomach and began to barf. "Reece!" Rhea screamed. She knew she intervened, she would be killed. But she couldn't watch him die... "NO! I can do this! I can do this!" Reece stood, tightened his grip, and continued forward. "Now we will brand you," Lupa said, her face expresionless. She picked up the branding iron from in her mouth, put the tip in the fire and branded the boys. Rhea noticed them flinch at the pain. When the steam cleared, a symbol was branded into their left arms; the symbol of a black fang with a snake wrapped around it and two swords crossed behind that. "And to finish, you must preform the Howl of the Moon. You must transform into a wolf and howl." "But I can't morph," Tony said. "Nothing is impossible, Tony. Search deep within you, and your bound to find something," Rhea said. Tony clenched his fist and closed his eyes. "Deep within," he muttered, "Deep...within..." Tony inhaled, exhaled and suddenley his enitre formed changed into a wolf. But what he became was terrifying. He was a wolf, yes, but a different kind. Lupa backed up and the other wolves growled furiously. "Tony...." Rhea gasped. "What?" he said. Tony was now a giant gray wolf, bigger than Lupa even. His eyes were sparkling, clear blue and he had a mane made of crackling blue fire. "Tony...what are you?" "What're you talking- Whoa! Holy- I'm a wolf! Sweet!" He chuckled, now realizing what he had done. Lupa growled at her soldires. "Bow." All the wolves began to bend their ears back and bow. "What-why are you guys bowing?" "You have the soul of an Olympian Wolf. That is the most rarest of all wolves in our world and their's." Lupa pointed towards the sky with her nose. "To have the blood or soul of an Olympian Wolf gives you the highest of command....usualy." "Usualy?" "You are a recruit, so you must follow orders. But when your training is done. You will be able to take over your House, by challeneging the current leader of course." "Umm....is that a good or bad thing." "That is for the fates to decide," Lupa said. "Now, Reece if you will?" Reece transformed at will, turning into a small white wolf with beady amber eyes. "NOW HOWL!" The boys arched their heads towards the moon and let loose the loudest howls, Rhea had ever heard. When the finished, Lupa stomped her feet and the others followed in example. "Legion! We welcome our new recruits! Tony Pierce and Reece Evergreen! Tonight, we feast in their honor!" ~ Rhea plopped onto her bed, the fire crackling in the back of her room. Her House's banner hung above her head with the symbol of two eagles- one red, the other blue- surrounded by a ring of fire. She was stuffed, as she always was after Legion feasts. As leader of her House, she always had to wake early, but she never went to bed early. She rummaged through her dresser, changed clothes, and grabbed her books. She'd been away for a while and she knew classes were starting back up tommorrow. She had forgotten some of her material, but not all of it. Tonight she would have to study, for Returning Exams would probably be tommorrow. She only had 5 classes, she'd exempted all the other 5. Her classes included: Magic, Fighting, Weapon Creation, Medical Class and Transportation Class. She really only needed to take Medical and Transporatation, but she took the others to seem like less of a know-it-all. But it was true, she did know it all. She lit a magical ball of fire in her hand and began reading under the flames. Soon however, she fell asleep......... Her dream was the weirdest. She awoke in a desert, the wind moving the sand like waves. The sun blistered down on her fur. She was in wolf form, yes, but she felt like a human. At first she thought she was alone, but then she heard voices. From over a giant sand dune, a caravan appeared. They were all wrapped from head to toe in white, brown, and black. There were 5 of them- 4 boys and 1 girl- and each one had a sword on the side. They looked in her direction, but by the light in their eyes, she could tell they didn't see her. The people were escorting what looked like a Royal Carriage. It was shrouded by velvet veils, and decorated with golden embrodiray. Rhea could just make out the figure of two people inside, sitting peacefully. "Stop!" One man said. He must've been the leader, because they did. Rhea was afraid they'd seen her, but they looked ahead, not towards her. "They're here..." "Who?" the woman asked. "The bandits." From the sand, a pack of bandits burst from the ground. There were 9 bandits, each dressed in raggidy clothes, masks, and with scars all around. They had knives and daggers and clubs at their sides. "Ah, if it isn't Alejandro. What're you doing out here escorting the Egyptians?" The head bandit said. He removed his mask to reveal a scarred, bearded face. The lead escorter removed his turban to reveal an exact copy of the bandit's face, except cleaner. "I have duties outside of the Horde, Francesco." Alejandro and Francesco stared at each other with intense hate. "We are brothers, Alejandro. We do not have to fight." Francesco laughed. "You've chosen your path I've chosen mine. I serve the Legion now, no longer the Horde." Rhea flinched. He served the Legion? Who was this person. "Toro merda! ''No one leaves the Horde! Once a killer, always a killer, remember brother?" The brother's stared at eachother silentley. Finnaly the female came forward. She unwrapped her tunic revealing a face that looked just like Rhea's. She had the same lime colored eyes as Rhea, and the same complexion. The only difference was her long brown hair. Although it was a whisper, Rhea could here what she was saying. "''Alejandro, dobbiamo proseguire in direzione Cairo. Il signore e la signora crescere impaziente ... e sapete come irrequieti possono essere ''..." This was all in Italian, but for some strange reason, Rhea knew exactly what they were saying. What the woman had just said was something like, "Alejandro, we must continue towards Cairo. The lord and lady grow impatient...and you know how restless they can be..." Rhea looked over towards the Royal Carriage. Alejandro whispered back to her, "''Sì, sì. Lo so Bella. Questo non durerà più a lungo ''...." Francesco interrupted. "Ahem! I agree with your last statement. This wont take any longer...." He smirked and barked at his guards. "''Ucciderli. Tutti loro." Rhea gasped at his words which meant, "Kill them. All of them." The bandits sprang forward and in mid air transformed into giant wolves. Each one was the color of the sand, except they had a large tattoo of a red eye on their left leg and scars. A bandit wolf lunged at the nearest escorter and ripped his head off. "Giovani!" Bella screamed. Then in a flash of light, Bella transformerd into a gleaming gray wolf with claws as sharp as her sword. "You will pay you low life bastardos!" She leaped forward and ripped the bandit wolf's legs off and then bit into his collar, breaking his neck. " Uccideteli! Voglio che morto e freddo!" ''Francesco screamed as he turned into a wolf. He was different than the others. His coat was black, with red streaks. His eyes were golden and they were dead set on Alejandro. "See you in hell, brother." He jumped at his brother, who transformed into a black wolf with red streaks and golden eyes. The twins began clawing and tearing at eachothers throats fiercely. ''I should help, ''Rhea thought. She leaped into the fray, but passed right through a wolf. So she was in dream state!? That's why they couldn't see her! Rhea backed up and watched as the escorters killed the last bandit. Now all that was left were the two brothers. Francesco backed off and began circling around his brother. "You made a mistake leaving the Horde, brother." "You made a mistake staying!" "How? The Horde was the best thing that ever happened to us, ''idiota! We had everything we ever wanted. Power, money, women! Why did you leave?" "Because I realized our true cause. Yes we had power, money, and women. But we also had the largest bounty if Europe on our heads!" "So?" "We killed a family, Francesco! How can you live with yourself?" "We did it for a reason, Alejandro..." "And what was that reason? What good enough reason do you have for murdering a man's children and his wife!" "He refused to give us answers!" "And you killed his family? He still didn't speak after that! We murdered them for nothing." "For nothing? We had a great cause. You and I? We were the leaders of our battalion!" "No, Forte was the leader. You only followed his orders, like a little cagna." "And you didn't? You followed his orders untill the you met that little puttana!" He gestured towards Bella, and she growled. "Bastardo!" ''She growled at him, but Alejandro called her off. "I left not only for Bella, but for my own good. There were many things I needed to...clense myself of." "C''ome le malattie che hai da te piccola puttana?" "''Vi fetta con i miei artigli e strappare il tuo cuore con i miei denti e bere il tuo sangue con un calice in oro massiccio è figlio stupido di un cagna!" '' "Calm yourself, Bella," Francesco laughed. It was clear he was taunting them, but Alejandro remained calm. "Don't make me kill you, brother," Alejandro said. "I will not be the one who dies today..." Francesco lunged and ripped Alejandro's ears off with his maw. "You will be deaf to the cries of your loved ones, brother," Francesco smirked. He turned, opened his maw, and a burst of flame erupted from his mouth. Flames engulfed the wolves, burning them alive- all of them. The Royal Carriage burned to the grown, the lord and lady inside of it. As the flames cleared Bella began crawled away, but Francesco grabbed her neck and snapped it. He transformed back into a wolf and went over to his brother who lie heaving and bloody on the sand. The holes where his ears should have been were spilling blood quickly and soon he would be dead of blood loss. "I know you can't here me, brother," Francesco smirked, "but like I said. Once a killer-" He picked up a sword and stabbed Alejandro in the leg. "-Always a killer...." Rhea stood there in the sand staring at the blood tainted sand, the burning carriage, and the dead bodies. She looked into the distance as Francesco turned into a wolf and ran off into the sunset. Rhea couldn't believe her eyes. She looked a Alejandro who was still alive, but barely hanging on. The vision faded and Rhea snapped awake. She was sitting in her bed. The light of dawn was just shining into her bed room. Classes would start in a few hours. But Rhea was still in shock. She'd jsut witnessed an entire massacre. What did this mean? "Hey, Rhea." A blond haired girl walked into her room. "Oh. Hi, Terra." The girl smiled. "Lupa says get ready. The leader's exams start earlier than ours." "Crap," Rhea groaned. "Fine then...Tell her I'll be down in a second." Terra left and Rhea began to get dressed. She packed her books into her satchel and headed down the stairs. Exiting the secret tunnel to their House out into the hall, she headed to her first class, magic- all the while wondering what the dream meant. Next Chapter: The Son of War: Ch. 10 Category:The Son of War Category:Chapter Page